Baltimore Orioles: A Historic Day Full of Fives vs Red Sox

On this day in baseball history, the Baltimore Orioles earned a hard fought win that was full of fives.

On August 19, 2001, the Baltimore Orioles finished the second inning against the Red Sox down by five runs. But, by the time it was over – in regulation innings,they would record those and several more to get the win.

The notable fives belonged to outfielder/first baseman Jeff Conine and to the team as a whole as they stole a combination of bases off of Hideo Nomo. By the time the Red Sox were finished with the game, they used five pitchers, and so did the Orioles.

That night afternoon at Fenway Park, Conine went 5-6. His five hits came in the form of singles, so he also ended the game with five bases. He earned three RBI and crossed home plate three times himself.

In 2001, Conine was batting fourth in the lineup and by the end of the game, his slash on August 19 was an impressive .317/.390/.466.

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The win was a complete team effort as all of the starters, with the exception the leadoff batter – Melvin Mora, ended up with hits. That is also an oddity, as leadoff hitters are usually the ones with the best on-base percentage. Mora did end up on base with a hit-by-pitch in the sixth off of Hipolito Pichardo. Mora went on to score a run.

Along with Conine’s five hits, the other notable five involved only four players stealing bases. Two of the stolen bases belonged to Conine. Brian Roberts, Jerry Hairston, and Chris Richard all stole off of the slow Nomo.

After the second inning debacle, where the Orioles gave up six runs. They chipped away scoring multiple runs in three innings to get the 13-7 win. Only one batter on either side of the big score had home runs: David Segui and Manny Ramirez.

By the time the game was over, it had encompassed more than four hours of playing time. The Pichardo tool the loss for the Sox and John Wasdin took the win for the Orioles. The Orioles finished the 2001 year in fourth place in the AL East, but 28th overall in the AL with a .391 win percentage. But on that day, the Orioles put on a show with some stats that are worth remembering.